New American Standard Bible

Psalm 44

Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.

1O God, we have heard with our ears,Our fathers have told usThe work that You did in their days,In the days of old.2 You with Your own hand drove out the nations;Then You planted them;You afflicted the peoples,Then You spread them abroad.3 For by their own sword they did not possess the land,And their own arm did not save them,But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,For You favored them.

4 You are my King, O God;Command [b]victories for Jacob.5 Through You we will push back our adversaries;Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.6 For I will not trust in my bow,Nor will my sword save me.7 But You have saved us from our adversaries,And You have put to shame those who hate us.8 In God we have boasted all day long,And we will give thanks to Your name forever. [c]Selah.

9 Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,And do not go out with our armies.10 You cause us to turn back from the adversary;And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.11 You give us as sheep [d]to be eatenAnd have scattered us among the nations.12 You sell Your people [e]cheaply,And have not [f]profited by their sale.13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,A scoffing and a derision to those around us.14 You make us a byword among the nations,A [g]laughingstock among the peoples.15 All day long my dishonor is before meAnd [h]my humiliation has overwhelmed me,16 Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.

17 All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You,And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant.18 Our heart has not turned back,And our steps have not deviated from Your way,19 Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackalsAnd covered us with the shadow of death.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our GodOr extended our [i]hands to a strange god,21 Would not God find this out?For He knows the secrets of the heart.22 But for Your sake we are killed all day long;We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.23 Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord?Awake, do not reject us forever.24 Why do You hide Your faceAnd forget our affliction and our oppression?25 For our soul has sunk down into the dust;Our body cleaves to the earth.26 Rise up, be our help,And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.

The Message

Psalm 44

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah

11-3 We’ve been hearing about this, God,all our lives.Our fathers told us the storiestheir fathers told them,How single-handedly you weeded out the godlessfrom the fields and planted us,How you sent those people packingbut gave us a fresh start.We didn’t fight for this land;we didn’t work for it—it was a gift!You gave it, smiling as you gave it,delighting as you gave it.

4-8 You’re my King, O God—command victories for Jacob!With your help we’ll wipe out our enemies,in your name we’ll stomp them to dust.I don’t trust in weapons;my sword won’t save me—But it’s you, you who saved us from the enemy;you made those who hate us lose face.All day we parade God’s praise—we thank you by name over and over.

9-12 But now you’ve walked off and left us,you’ve disgraced us and won’t fight for us.You made us turn tail and run;those who hate us have cleaned us out.You delivered us as sheep to the butcher,you scattered us to the four winds.You sold your people at a discount—you made nothing on the sale.

13-16 You made people on the street,urchins, poke fun and call us names.You made us a joke among the godless,a cheap joke among the rabble.Every day I’m up against it,my nose rubbed in my shame—Gossip and ridicule fill the air,people out to get me crowd the street.

17-19 All this came down on us,and we’ve done nothing to deserve it.We never betrayed your Covenant: our heartswere never false, our feet never left your path.Do we deserve torture in a den of jackals?or lockup in a black hole?

20-22 If we had forgotten to pray to our Godor made fools of ourselves with store-bought gods,Wouldn’t God have figured this out?We can’t hide things from him.No, you decided to make us martyrs,lambs assigned for sacrifice each day.

23-26 Get up, God! Are you going to sleep all day?Wake up! Don’t you care what happens to us?Why do you bury your face in the pillow?Why pretend things are just fine with us?And here we are—flat on our faces in the dirt,held down with a boot on our necks.Get up and come to our rescue.If you love us so much, Help us!